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Marc
Neufeldt`s Fishing Report March 5th to 19th 2008!
Hi
all,
here
is a summary of my fishing trip to Malindi, Kenya from
March 5th to 19th :
First
of all I can assure you that the situation at the coast
is very peaceful and there have been no signs of conflicts/
political unrest at all.
Catharina
has recovered well from her surgery and she came to the
club again. So nice to see her in this good condition.
Unfortunately Herbie was still in Nairobi hospital and
his condition was quite unstable. We all hope that he
can return to Malindi soon. Fingers crossed!
Stupidly
my brand new Nikon D40x Camera broke the first day (Display
showing message: "Initialization Error! Contact an
approved Nikon Dealer!"
Very funny!). Therefore
we only did some pics with my mobile phone:-( )
Day
1, Snowgoose: We decided to fish the Rips with lures
and strip-baits. After a couple of Dorado and Wahoo hitting
our lures a Stripey of approx. 110lbs took my small Pakula
Cockroach and was released after 10mins. Good start!
Day
2 , Eclare: Fishing the Rips again! No Marlin strikes
today but we managed to release 3 Sail. Again the odd
Dorado were on site in high numbers. We got 6 incl. a
nice Bull:


Day
3, Snark: We started trolling on the Banks and caught
7 Wahoo (this season always offers good size Wahoo with
an average of 30lbs), 3 Dorado plus 3YFs for Shark fishing.
At noon we went to the Canyons and started Shark baiting.
This was a bit frustrating because Snapper were constantly
damaging our bait. At least we could catch a nice Rockcod
of 70lbs.


Day
4, Snark: Again we started fishing the Banks. After
catching 2 Wahoo and 2 Dorado in the morning we got 2
Friggies in shallow water and instantly rigged them for
live baiting. Just a couple of minutes later we had a
strike from a Black Marlin on the tag line. Unfortunately
the Marlin had swallowed the bait and we needed to boat
it weighting 180lbs. Maybe I gave too much free spool,
dunno
This simply happens sometimes.
Day
5, Snark: Trolling the Banks again. After catching
2 Wahoo, 2 Dorado, 1 Kingfish (nice one of 40lbs) and
a Garfish we got a heavy strike on a Halco Lazer Pro far
behind the boat on the center rigger. Surprisingly it
turned out to be a Black Marlin: 145lbs! Later the day
we tried for Tigers again and lost one after a couple
of mins.

Day
6, Snark: This was a quiet day. The sea was very flat
and it was pretty hot with few wind. No bait around and
we were trolling lures outside the Banks. But no score!
1 Wahoo and 6 Dorado in the afternoon saved the day.
Day
7, Snark: Today we decided to fish up north in the
Mambrui area because we were reported from a club member
that some sail had appeared on the scene. March is not
the best season for Sail but I was able to hook one and
release it after a couple of minutes. The rest of the
day it was only Wahoo (3) and Dorado (5) and some baitfish
again.

Day
8, Snark: With 3 frozen Bonitos in our cool box we
went to the Canyons again and put out 2 shark baits early
in the morning. Around 11a.m. I got a strike on the bait
that we had put on a float. This Tiger was really teasing
me and I needed several tries before I finally hooked
it up. Bringing the 130 to the chair I already realized
that this must be a big fish. After 1 ½ hours it
came up for the first time and the crew grabbed the trace
but simply could not hold it. Having caught or witnessed
over 35 Tigers in my life I was sure that this was my
personal best. But although skipper Adi was trying to
convince me to bring it in I decided to release it. After
another 20 mins. the trace came out of the water again
but the Tiger was still green and not ready for release.
A big splash with the tail fin and it disappeared in the
deep blue again. In this situation the rod holder from
the chair broke (the chair was turned in a right angle
to the port side
) and I needed a helping hand
to bring the rod on my legs. Fishing the 130 with heavy
drag under this circumstances is no fun and I told the
crew that the next time the trace is up they should quickly
wrap the trace around one the clamps in the stern then.
Another 20 mins. later we finally succeeded in doing so
and I had released my first ever Tigershark of 1200lbs!

Day
9, Snark: Another try for Tigers of course! More current
today but still good conditions for baiting. Midmorning
we had a good strike on the downrigger but after a few
minutes the Shark cut the wire trace. Few hours later
we got another strike on the downrigger and 45mins. later
my father (66 of age and still very strong!) could release
a nice Tiger of 550lbs on 80lbs line. We were using a
vinyl covered cable wind-on this time that approved very
helpful for the lineman. This is definitely what I will
use exclusively in the future for shark fishing. Running
out of bait we then trolled the rest of the day catching
1 Wahoo and 2 Dorado.
Day
10, Snark: Trolling on the Banks we got 2 Wahoo, 1
Dorado and 2 Garfish and a few Bonitos. In the afternoon
we prepared for Shark baiting again a got a strike pretty
fast. But somehow the Dacron must had been tangled around
the downrigger cable and got cut. The rest of the day
was quiet and I decided to do some bottom fishing while
waiting for the next strike. Got a nice Snapper (don`t
know the exact type) of 25lbs in the end.

Day
11, Snark: Heading north again because Tina had 4
Blacks up yesterday while fly fishing. Actually that Angler
had had a Black Marlin on his fly rod before the line
broke after 15 mins. or so. Malindi area was full of bait
and we caught around 10 Bonitos in an hour before going
to Ngomeni. But there the situation was completely different:
no bait at all! Trolling around with strip baits/lures
we had 2 Sailfish strikes that we missed and 5 Wahoo and
2 Dorado + 1 Jobfish. We did some baiting with dead bait
(Friggies) later and raised a Black. But obviously not
hungry enough for dead bait it disappeared kinda bored
after a couple of mins..
Day
12, Snark: Our last day! Fishing up north again. Got
a Longfin Tuna early in the morning and a couple of Bonito
in the Malindi area. Again not much bait in Mambrui so
we kept trolling and had some action with Wahoo (6) and
the ever-present Dorado (9). Also lost a Sail after some
jumping...
Cheers
+ Tight Lines,
Marc
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